Proposal Review

Be a Peer Reviewer

Grant Application Peer Review

Proposals received under a solicitation are reviewed by independent peer panels comprised of reviewers from academia, industry and government organizations, along with practitioners from federal, state and local agencies. Once reviewers have completed evaluations, NIJ Program Managers recommend individual proposals to the NIJ Director, who makes final award decisions.

Review panels. NIJ uses two kinds of peer review panels for grant applications. Most proposals are reviewed by ad hoc panels, but proposals submitted under some solicitations are reviewed by standing review panels.

Award notification. If you are a successful applicant and your project is selected for funding, NIJ will notify you of the award no later than September 30 of the calendar year via the Grants Management System (GMS), regardless of whether the application came through GMS or Grants.gov. If you are unsuccessful, NIJ will issue you a rejection letter by December 30 of the calendar year.

Unsolicited Proposals

We discourage the submission of unsolicited proposals. Most discretionary funding is awarded in response to solicitations issued by NIJ. We encourage you first to review the current and forthcoming funding pages for solicitations under which your idea might fit. If you still have questions, contact the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center: toll-free at 1-800-851-3420; via TTY at 301-240-6310 (hearing impaired only); email grants@ncjrs.gov; fax to 301-240-5830; or web chat​. If your idea is of interest to NIJ, we will contact you with instructions on how to proceed.